1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for Bluetooth connection in a portable terminal, and in particular, to an apparatus and method for connecting a Bluetooth® (hereinafter “Bluetooth”) portable terminal to a Bluetooth device closest to the Bluetooth portable terminal when a Bluetooth connection event occurs in the Bluetooth portable terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Owing to the development of efficient and economical Bluetooth communication technology, more electronic devices are using Bluetooth modules. Bluetooth is a radio communication protocol for connecting various terminals and devices using an Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band frequency of 2.4 GHz at a rate of 1 Mbps. A device including a Bluetooth module (i.e., a Bluetooth device) communicates with a neighboring Bluetooth device using a Bluetooth ratio frequency as follows. The Bluetooth device searches for neighboring Bluetooth devices and selects one of the searched Bluetooth devices. If authentication is required for a Bluetooth communication with the selected Bluetooth device, authentication procedures are performed by Bluetooth pairing. Then, the two Bluetooth devices communicate with each other. A general method of searching for accessible Bluetooth devices is described with respect to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is an exemplary view illustrating how a Bluetooth portable terminal 100 generally searches for neighboring Bluetooth devices.
In FIG. 1, the Bluetooth portable terminal 100 including a Bluetooth module searches for neighboring Bluetooth devices 120, 122, 124, and 126 and makes a list 102 of accessible Bluetooth devices using the search result. Then, a user of the Bluetooth portable terminal 100 selects one Bluetooth device from the list 102. When a number of Bluetooth devices are searched for as accessible Bluetooth devices, as in FIG. 1, it can be difficult for the user to select one of the Bluetooth devices. For example, a plurality of Bluetooth devices 120 and 122 having the same name can be searched for as accessible Bluetooth devices, and moreover, the name of the searched Bluetooth devices 120 and 122 can be a product model name that is not familiar to the user. In this case, it may be more difficult for the user to select one of the Bluetooth devices 120 and 122.
Conventional Bluetooth connection procedures are described with reference to FIG. 2, wherein a flowchart illustrating Bluetooth connection process between Bluetooth devices is shown.
In FIG. 2, in step 200, a Bluetooth device receives a Bluetooth connection request from a user. In step 202, the Bluetooth device searches for accessible Bluetooth devices by transmitting a Host Controller Interface (HCI) inquire signal as a connection request signal and receiving a response signal. In step 204, the Bluetooth device outputs a list of accessible Bluetooth devices. In step 206, a user selects one of the listed accessible Bluetooth devices. In step 208, the Bluetooth device connects to the selected Bluetooth device by Bluetooth pairing. In step 210, a Bluetooth service is provided to the user.
In step 206, the user selects one of the listed accessible Bluetooth devices. However, it may be difficult for the user to select one of the listed accessible Bluetooth devices due to the above-mentioned problems. In general, users of Bluetooth portable terminals use a Bluetooth connection for connecting his/her Bluetooth portable terminal to other devices such as a Bluetooth headset, a Bluetooth headphone, a Bluetooth handsfree kit, or another Bluetooth portable terminal. In this case, most users may place a desired Bluetooth device close to their respective Bluetooth portable terminal and then try a Bluetooth connection between his/her Bluetooth portable terminal and the Bluetooth device.
Therefore, in addition to a conventional apparatus and method for connecting two Bluetooth devices by searching for neighboring Bluetooth devices and selecting one of the searched Bluetooth devices, there is a need for an apparatus and method for connecting the closest two Bluetooth devices.